T1 Cunningham

World of Tanks, oh how much of a time-vampire this game has become. Indeed when we last left off it was noted that, along with The Old Republic, this is where most of the Christmas holiday time was spent – family and friends’ time not included in overall deductions and so forth, duties not neglected. Now thus far there has been some success in unlocking the second and third tier of tanks in both the American and German tech trees, with the other nations either given minimal time, or ignored completely. Now before I go on it is important to note that the reason why countries like France, The Soviet Union, China, Japan, and Great Britain were ignored was largely because their tier one tanks were complete rubbish – in my opinion. Machine guns in a tank-on-tank fight? Yes they are all light tanks but come on, slap a decent gun on there and not a peashooter. Incidentally the only two trees that were given the investment of time were the German and American trees: both nations had visually appealing tanks, and both nations sported starting vehicles with decent firepower. Ultimately if one is to get into a game and sink their teeth into the meat of it, one must have a decent toy to play with in order to get used to the controls and game mechanics. Now you folks did not come here to read about how bad the other starting tanks are, you came here to read about how this one tank, the T1 Cunningham, is worth your time and effort.

The Cunningham surprised me as a starting tank mainly because it was easy to use, and gave a certain degree of satisfaction when fielded against the other light tanks in the tier one category: for a starter tank it packed a decent punch, and the tank itself is visually appealing for someone who has a bit of a background in Steampunk and World War one/Interwar era tank designs. Now the tank itself comes with a stock 37mm gun which is quite standard amongst the starter tanks, though I have seen machine guns, and smaller caliber guns, replacing the main gun on other starter tanks that are fielded by either the fellow teammates, or by the enemy. Obviously being a starter tank, the Cunningham is not as amazing as a Sherman or a Panther, but it gets the job done nonetheless when it comes to engagements at the starting level. Plus the tank can also clock in up to 41 km/h so it will be good for when you need to make that quick get away; plus it is a lot better than the German starter tank which comes in around 36 km/h – and this is with the stock T1 engine as well.

There is one important bit of information to note here; the T1 does not unlock the trees of the other nations, rather just the American tanks. Therefore if a player wants to get a Soviet T-34, or a German Hetzer, they will have to suffer through the starting tanks of those respective trees as experience points earned are not transferable between tanks and nations. Overall though the Cunningham is quite the little monster and it leads to some rather interesting vehicles – one of which is the T18 tank destroyer. Now as of Saturday the 4th of January, the T18 is no longer in my inventory as I have switched it out with a German tank destroyer, the Panzerjager 1. With that said however, I might re-invest in that beast of a machine sometime in the near future so stay tuned for updates. Though there is one thing that is worth mentioning about the T18; it would appear to have thicker hull armour than the Panzerjager 1, which scares me greatly. Facing up against that blasted tank destroyer has cost me dearly on several occasions, but we will leave it at that point. Anyways the T1 Cunningham, available right now to all new players, and to existing players at no cost under the first tier in World of Tanks: it should help you get used to the game if you are a new player, and if you are a veteran player what the crap are you thinking? Get out of there and try out the T18, or the Hetzer – the one I am trying to unlock currently (humor intended).